In this week’s reading list, we have highlighted the top digital news all about Google’s search results as well as the ways in which you can monetize your social media followings. So, sit back, relax and read along with us today.

Moz Report: 50% Of Page One Search Results Are HTTPS

Due to many sites switching to the safer ‘HTTPS’ as well as what appears to be ranking in Google, it is said that we may see 70% of the page one results going to HTTPS by the end of the year. According to a recent Moz report, it was found by their keyword tracking tools that half of Google’s page one search results show HTTPS URLs, which is up from 30% of the results in July 2016.

Even though Google had previously thought about boosting the HTTPS ranking signal a few months ago, they have recently said that they have no plans on doing this anymore.

However this is not a full study of all the queries that return HTTPS result as Moz only tracks 10,00-plus keywords, but a similar tool RankRanger also puts Google’s page one results at about 50% for HTTPS URLs.

Earlier on this week, Google reaffirmed that 15% of Google searches done by users on a daily basis have never been seen before. This was said all the way back in 2013 but it has now been restated.

Google wrote:

“There are trillions of searches on Google every year. In fact, 15 percent of searches we see every day are new — which means there’s always more work for us to do to present people with the best answers to their queries from a wide variety of legitimate sources. While our search results will never be perfect, we’re as committed as always to preserving your trust and to ensuring our products continue to be useful for everyone.”

Last year Google stated that they handle over 2 trillion searches per year and in 2012 they claimed that they processed 1.2 trillion searches per year. However this week they couldn’t give a precise number and just said that ‘trillions’ of searches are performed on Google each year. But, Google were specific when they said that 15% of the queries that they see are in fact brand-new. Because of this, it’s clear to say that search is a big challenge and there will always be ongoing work for Google.

Interested in knowing about the ways in which you can monetize your social media followings? Even if you don’t have a huge following on Twitter or Facebook, it doesn’t matter as Columnist Jordan Kasteler has shared five ways to help turn your social media presence into a way to generate revenue. Not only has social media helped people stay in touch and communicate with each other, it has also completely transformed marketing and business practices.

Here are the 5 ways to turn your social presence into a bona fide stream of revenue:

Create an online course that educates your followers: Now is the time to double down on your own expertise and create a course to offer to your audiences.

Unveil new products and services to your followers: In order to generate sales from your audience, you need to have something to sell.

Integrate video into your marketing stack: Videos help increase your chances of monetizing your audience, as the content is engaging, educational and often entertaining

Become an affiliate to market products to your audience: Affiliate programs are another sales model that are increasing in popularity.

Create a Facebook shop and sell right through social: By doing this, you can list physical products directly on the platform for followers to browse and buy. It just doesn’t get any easier to reach so many people in such an efficient and effective manner.